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25 



What Has 

Sweden Done for the 

United States? 




cA brochure printed and sold for the 

Benefit of the Famine Fund 

for Northern Sweden 

and Finland 



By LARS P. NELSON 



Published by the Author 
Chicago. 1903 






THE LlORAWY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

APR 10 1903 

Copytignt Lnliy 

CLASS i^ XXc. No. 

COPY 'B. 



Copyright 1903 
By LARS P. NELSON 



Illustrations by Hugo von Hofsten 

Printed by Hollister Brothers 

Chicago 




•clftrr ti)c ^uotustorm 

Painting by JOHAN TIr£n 
Poem by JACOB BONGGREN 



©arh wooDe anD C>rcar\? niountatiio 

and marsbce flat an^ ^vi^c, 
au5 sorrow aiiC? ^etiolation 

an5 col? on cvcrv eiCc ; 
tthc plains an5 hille an? wooMan^s 

arc wrappc? In a cloak of snow, 
an? fiercer, ever fiercer 

the win?s from tbe IHorthcnst blow. 

at first as soft as a wbis^ier 

tbcB Dance tbrongb the leafless trees; 
Cben louJ)cr grow tbclr voices. 

as brish an? stroiici as a brecjc. 
at last tbev; sbahc tbe beavens 

an? ben? tbe trees an? roar, 
like tiaiiiit an? boarv giants 

wbo fitibt tbe terrible Cbor. 



Sbe frigbtful battle isen?e?; 

tbe stnr?\: Xaplan? swain 
3&\2 col? an? bunker, tbe monsters, 

is cruellv? pierce? an? slain. 
liJis face is of asben pallor; 

he's col? to tbe verv core, 
jfirc an? foo? arc forgotten; 

be sleeps an? will wake no more. 

Cbc mournful motber watcbes 

ber bov; on bis cbills be?. 
IHo longer bis feet en skees arc fleet; 

ber ?auntless ?arllng is ?ea?. 
Cbe bo\} wbo braves a blijjar? 

to get foo? for tbe starving fol?; 
Js be not a noble bero, 

IS be not a warrior bol? ? 




■z^ ^ 



^ 



V 

■"■v. 




GUSTAF II. ADOLPH 

A'iiiiT of Swt-dcii, i6ii'!6j2. 



Wl)at lf}as ^Vuclicn ©our for tljc 
^nttrt States? 




HE first attention given by the Swedish Government to the 
country now comprising the United States is recorded in a 
letter given by King Gustaf Adolph in 1624, to Willem Usse- 
hnx of Holland, authorizing him to organize a "company to 
trade in Asia, Africa, Aiucrica, and Magellanica." (iiven at 
Stockholm the 21st of December, 1624. The following year 
a company was organized and named " The Royal Swedish 
General Trading Company, to do business in Asia, Africa, Avicriai and 
Magellanica." Part of its prospectus reads: "It must be well considered and 
weighed that God Almighty, in his incomprehensible wisdom and providence, 
has so foreordained and arranged that all which is necessary for the welfare 
and sustenance of mankind is not found in one place, unless God has blessed 
with his gifts each country by itself. Consecjuently what is wanting in one 
country abounds in the other, and one country can not do without another." 
The next year, 1626, the King issued a charter to the company, entitled 
"Charter or Privilege, which the Mighty and most noble Prince and Lord, 
Gustaf Adolph, King of Sweden, the Gothes and Vendes, Grand Duke of 
Finland, etc., has graciously given by letters patent to the newly established 
Swedish South Company." Its object is stated in a statesmanlike and 
Christian manner, thus: " Whereas, we find that it will considerably add to 
the welfare of our kingdom and of our subjects, and that it is necessary that 
the commerce, trades and naviiration in our lands and territories should 2:row, 
be increased and improved by all suitable means ; and whereas, by the reports 
of experienced and trustworthy men we have received reliable and certain 
intelligence that there are in Africa, America, and Magellanica, or terra 
Australis, many rich countries and islands, with which it may not only be 
possible to carry on a large commerce from our kingdom, but it is also most 
likely that the people in those lauds may be made more civilized and taught 
morality and the Christian religion, by the mutual intercourse and trade ; 
therefore, we have maturely considered and as far as in our power concluded 
that the advantages, profits and welfare of our kingdom and faithful subjects, 
besides the fiirther propagation of the holy gospel, will be much improved and 
increased by the discovery of new commercial relations and navigation," etc. 
The thirty-first article of this charter shows how earnest the King was about 



Sweaish Colonization in America 

this business. It reads: "In order to manifest the great pleasure which we 

have in the progress of this company, we promise that we will subscribe and 

invest a sum of four hundred thousand dalers, counting thirty-two round 

pieces to a daler, which we will risk for our own account, dividing profit and 

loss with the others." The charter is dated, " Royal Palace at Stockholm, in 

the one thousandth six hundredth and six and twentieth year after the birth 

of God's son, the 14th of June, 1626." ,r-- 1, r- \ 

^ (Signed) GusTAF Adolph. 

Speaking about the motives that prompted Gustaf Adolph in preparing 
for colonization in America, Dr. Stille, of Philadelphia, says : 

"It was not merely as a commercial enterprise that Gustaf Adolph planned to found a 
colony in America. If we wish to understand the real significance of the scheme, its para- 
mount and controlling impulse, we must look upon the colony as the outgrowth of the Thirty 
Years' War, and its establishment as a remedy for some of the manifold evils of that war, which 
had suggested itself to the minds of Gustaf Adolph and his Chancellor, Oxenstjerna. 

"A glance at contemporary history shows how novel and comprehensive were the views 
o'f colonization held 'by the King. The Protestants of Germany and Denmark were at that 
time in the midst of a pitiless storm, exposed to all its fury. The Thirty Years' War — unex- 
ampled in history for the cruel sufferings inflicted upon non-combatants — was at its height. 
The Protestants were yielding everj'where; nothing could resist the military power of Wallen- 
stein, who, supporting his army upon the pillage of the country, pressed forward to the shores 
of the Baltic, with the intention of making that sea an Austrian lake. The Protestant leaders 
^Mansfeld, Christian of Brunswick, the King of Denmark — were all defeated, and their fol- 
lowers were a mass of fugitives fleeing toward the North and imploring succor. Gustaf had 
not yet embarked in the German war, but his heart was full of sympathy for the cause in which 
these poor people were suffering, and this scheme of colonization occurred to him as a practical 
method of reducing the horrors which he was forced to witness. 

"The faith of the King in the wisdom of this scheme never wavered. In the hour of his 
complete triumph over his enemies he begged the German Princes whom he had rescued from 
ruin to permit their subjects to come to America and live there under the protection of his 
powerful arm. He spoke to them just before the battle of Liitzen of the proposed colony, 
which he called ' the Jewel of his Crown," and after he had fallen a martyr to the cause of 
Protestantism on that field, his Chancellor, acting, as he said, upon the express desire of the 
dead King, renewed the patent for the colony, extended its benefits more fully to Germany, and 
secured the official confirmation of its provisions by the diet of Frankfurt. 

"The colony that came to these shores in 1638 was not exactly the colony planned by 
the great King. The commanding genius that could foresee the permanent settlement of a 
free state here, based upon the principles of religious toleration — the same principles in defense 
of which Swedish blood was poured out like water upon the plains of Germany — had been 
removed from this world. It has been said that the principle of religious toleration which was 
agreed to at the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, and afterward became part of the public law of 
Europe, is the cornerstone of our modern civilization, and that it has been worth more to the 
world than all the blood that was shed to establish it. With this conflict and this victory the 



The Peace of Westpluilia 



name and fame of Gustaf Adolph is inseparably associated; and glorying in that memory, we 
will also remember that when during the long struggle he sometimes feared that liberty of con- 
science could never be established upon an enduring basis in Europe, his thoughts turned to 
America as the country where his cherished ideal of human society, so far in advance of the 
civilization of the age in which he lived, might become a glorious realit)-."' 

The treaty of peace of Westphalia which terminated the Thirty Years' 
War is one of the great historical mileposts in human progress, and not only 



the Protestant world, but Christendom as a whole 
to the men and the nation 
who contributed to that 
peace and compelled the 
making of that treaty; and 
of all the human agencies 
which were employed and 
worked out that result, Gus- 
taf Adolph and the 83,000 
Swedes who laid clown their 
lives on German battlefields 
during eighteen years of that 
horrible war, are entitled to 
the first consideration. The 
peace of Westphalia consists 
of two treaties, one between 
Sweden and the Austrian 
Emperor, signed at Osna- 
briick, and one between 
France and the Emperor, 
signed at Miinster. The two 
together make the famous 



is under lasting; oblifjation 




AXEL OXENSTJERNA 

Prhfic Minister and Chancellor of Sreet/en, 161116^4. 



compact designated in history as " The Peace of Westphalia," but the article 
that has made this peace famous — made it the "cornerstone of our modern 
civilization" — appears only in the Swedish treaty. It is the fourth article, 
and it stipulates that the peace treaty of Augsburg of 1355, which established 
liberty of worship for the Lutherans, shall be left inviolate and confirmed, 
and its provisions and benefits shall also be extended to the Reformed Church 
(t/ie Calvinists), so that the three churches — the Catholic, Lutheran and 
Reformed — shall have ecjual rights, equalitas exacta nuttuaqae. 

This principle of religious toleration, of liberty to worship God according 
to the dictates of men's consciences, was insisted upon and put into the treaty 



Colony Founded by Oxenstjerna, idjS 

by the Swedish delegates, Johan Oxenstjerna (son of the Chancellor) and 
Johan Adler Salvius. They were the chief representatives of the Protestants, 
and the Emperor and all the Catholic delegates from Austria, France, Spain 
and Italy had to submit and consent to the incorporation in the treaty of this 
great principle, much as it was against their will to do so. Both on the bat- 
tlefield and in the councils of state Sweden wrought for the oppressed ; she 
sent her statesmen to plead with the mighty, and her soldiers to fight with 
their armies, with equal success. The world can never repay her for the 
great sacrifice of human lives which she laid upon the altar of humanity in 
the Thirty Years' War. 

The death of the King, November 6, 1632, prevented him from realizing 
his plan of American colonization, but he left it a legacy to his Secretary of 
State, the famous chancellor. Axel Oxenstjerna, by whom the project was 
carried out and the American Colony established. 



After the death of Gustaf Adolph, his daughter Christina — then only six 
years old — was proclaimed Queen, and a regency, with Oxenstjerna at the head, 
was appointed, which carried on the government during the Queen's minority. 
It was during this period, and under the direction of the Chancellor, that the 
Swedish Colony on the banks of the Delaware was founded in 163S. 

Ten expeditions in fifteen ships were sent by Sweden to America from 
1637 to 1654, during the time that Oxenstjerna, as Prime Minister and Chan- 
cellor, ruled Sweden. His instructions to Governor Printz — who was sent 
out in 1643 — says an American author, Edward Armstrong, "are minute and 
exhibit great knowledge upon the river, combined with great shrewdness and 
practical good sense. T/icy form the most important State paper yet discov- 
ered relatiiio- to tlie settlement upon our shores, as connected with this period of 
our annalsT 

William Penn has been much praised for his treatment of the Indians, 
but few people know that Penn's Indian policy was originated by Axel 
Oxenstjerna, and that Penn merely adapted it from the Swedes, who had prac- 
ticed it for more than forty years before Penn came into the country. When 
Minuit landed on Christina Creek with the first expedition he immediately 
sought the Indian chiefs who were in possession of the shores of the river, 
and bought and paid liberally for the land he wanted, on which to settle the 
colony. His orders from the Swedish Government were "to buy the land from 
the Indians and perfect the title by immediate settlement on it, and live in 



Swedish Indian Policy Adopted hy Pemi 



peace, amity and good fellowship with them." This policy was emphasized 
by the instructions to Governor Print/., dictated by Oxenstjerna, the ninth 
article of which reads as follows: "The wild nations bordering on all sides, the 
Governor shall understand lioiv to treat luith all Immanity and respect, that no 
violence or wrong be done to them by Her Royal Majesty or her subjects; but 
he shall rather, at every opportunity, exert himself, that the same wild people 
may graduallv be instructed in the 
truths and 7vorship of the Christian 
religion, and in other ways be brought 
to civilization and a good govern- 
ment," etc. 

Think of this — the government 
of Sweden instructs and commands 
its ofificers and agents to treat the 
Indians zvith hunianitv and respect, to 
buy what they want from them, and 
not to steal it; to try to convert them 
to Christianity and a good life. 
William Penn was shrewd enough to 
see that this sort of honesty was the 
best policy, hence he adopted it, with 
profit to himself and all concerned. 




DR. JESPKR SVEDBERG 

Bishop of Ska in, Swt-ileii, i-^oj-f^jj. Siiperint,iiilcnt of I lie 
S-u'Ci/is/i Miisioii in Aiiuiica, i6i)6-J~jj. 



The progress of the colony, not- 
withstanding the change of masters, 
from Swedish to Dutch and from 
Dutch to English, was continuous and 
solid. The Swedes took root in the 
new soil and were the first to plant 
Christian civilization in Pennsylvania 
and Delaware. They flourished and increased, raising big families, intermar- 
ried largely with the English that came under William Penn, and are the 
ancestors of a great part of the present inhabitants of Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, Delaware and other states. 

Long after all political connection between the mother country and the 
colony had ceased the Swedish Government sent ministers of the gospel and 
thousands of books to the colony. "There is not upon record" — says an 



Swedish Mission in America 



American author, William M. Reynolds — "a more remarkable instance of dis- 
interested care fur its expatriated citizens than that of the Swedish Govern- 
ment for these members of its race, no longer bound to it by any political ties, 
and separated from it by the wide expanse of the Atlantic. From 1696 to 

17S6 the Swedish 
Government sent to 
the churches on the 
Delaware no less 
than thirty-two cler- 
gymen, giving them 
outfits and paying 
the expenses of their 
voyage from Sweden 
to America, as also of 
their return voyage, 
when, after many 
years of faithful labor, 
they returned to their 
native land, where 
they were again re- 
ceived with open 
arms, and often in- 
vested with pastor- 
ates of the most de- 
sirable character. 
How much money 
the Swedish Govern- 
ment thus expended 
it is now impossible 
to determine, but 
the amount cannot 
have been less than 
$ 1 00,000, and m ay 
have reached double 
that amount. The whole of it was given without thought of material return 
or profit from the investment. It must also be borne in mind that money 
was scarce during that period, and that Sweden was then in straightened 
circumstances, and frequently suffered from financial embarrassment. The 




MAGISTER ERIC TOBIAS BJORK 

I'lislor of Christina Congrfi;atioii, Delaware, ibgy-iyt^. Built Trinity Church, 
IVilmiiti^ton, and deditatctl it Trinity Sunday, ibgc). 



Johyi Morton 



country, exhausted by the expenditure of blood and treasure in the Thirty 
Years' War, was brought to the verge of bankruptcy bv the disastrous con- 
clusion of the reign of Charles XII. We cannot, therefore, but admire the 
liberality of Sweden toward the descendants of the colonists whom, in the 
days of her power and prosperity, she sent forth to America, but whose 
spiritual necessities she was anxious to 
provide for even in times of her own 
deepest depression." 




^ i^'^" /' '■'^^^'^'cr , 






JT 







J^y 










Coming down from the early colonial 
to revolutionary times in 1776, we find 
one of the sons of the Swedish colonists 
sitting as judge in Upland County, Penn- 
sylvania, yohn Morton, signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, was the 
great-great-grandson of Marten Martens- 
son, who arrived in the colony from 
Sweden with Governor Printz, in 1643. 
Morton was born in 1725, was well edu- 
cated, became a member of the assembly 
of Pennsylvania and its speaker in 1772- 
1775. Soon after his entry into political 
life he attended the Stamp Act Congress 
in New York, in 1765. He was high 
sheriff of the county in 1 766-70, and 
in his later years president judge of com- 
mon pleas, and a judge of the Supreme Court, as well as a member of the 
Continental Congress from its beginning, in 1774. On the question of sepa- 
ration from Great Britain the Pennsvlvania delegation was divided. Franklin 
and Wilson voted aye; Willing and Humphrey no; Morris and Dickinson 
were absent. Taking his seat in the delegation late in July, Judge Morton 
showed his patriotism and courage by casting his vote for the Declaration, 
thus committing his state to the revolution and offending a number of his 
friends who were royalists. This enstrangement weighed upon his mind in 
his last hour, and he sent a message to his old friends to this effect: "Tell 
them they will live to see the day when they will acknowledge that my 
signing the Declaration of Independence was the most glorious service I 



/ 



Scilioii of tlic signatures of the Declaration 
of Iniiepeniieiue. 



Stvedeti First to Make Treaty with United States, Ij8j 

ever rendered my countr)^" He died in 1777, leaving a family of three sons 
and five daughters, and an honored name, of which we are all proud. 

^ * * ^ ¥ i^ * 

Sweden is tlie only power in Europe that voluntarily offered its friend- 
ship to the United States when they were struggling for independence, and 
long before it was recognized by Great Britain. The author of "Diplomac}' 

— ^- of the United States," Bos- 



ton, 1826, says: "The con- 
duct of Sweden was marked 
with great frankness of a 
very friendly character. The 
United States could not ex- 
pect much from that country 
or suppose that her example 
could have a great deal of 
influence on other nations. 
But it was highly gratifying 
that a state renowned as 
Sweden always has been for 
the bravery and love of in- 
dependence of her people, 
should manifest so great 




sympathy in the arduous 
struggles for liberty of a 
distant country." The pro- 
posal for a treaty was en- 
tirely unsought for on the 
part of the United States. 
The only account we have 
of the transaction is in one 
of the letters of Dr. Frank- 
lin. The Swedish Minister at Paris, Count Gustaf Philip de Creutz, called on 
Dr. Franklin toward the end of June, 1782, by direction of his Sovereign, 
Gustaf III., to inquire if he were furnished with the necessary powers to 
conclude a treaty with Sweden. In the course of the conversation he 
remarked that "it was a pleasure to him to think, and he hoped it would be 
rciuembercd, that Sweden was the first power in Europe which had voluntarily 
offered its friendship to the United States without being soHcited." Dr. 
Franklin communicated the inquiry of the Swedish Envoy to Congress, and 



GUSTAF III. 

I-Ciug of Stueden^ jyyi-/yg2. 



U 



United States Consul in (iothcnburg 

instructions were at once sent him to agree to a treaty, which was concluded 
at Paris on April 3, 17S3, by Henjamin Franklin for the United States and 
Count Gustaf Philip de Creutz for Sweden. The treaty was ratified by 
Congress on July 29th, and a proclamation that the treaty was in force, and 
directing all the citizens and inhabitants, and more especially all officers and 
others in tire service of the United States, to observe it, was issued by 
Congress on the 25th of September, 1783. 

Well, some one may remark, what did this amount to? A treaty with 
Sweden in those days did not benefit the United States very much. 

Let us see. The 26th article of the treaty stipulates that "The two 
contracting parties grant mutually the liberty of having each in the ports of 
each other consuls, vice consuls, agents and commissaries," etc., and thereby 
hangs a tale, a very pretty tale, which I will relate. 

In pursuance of this treaty and the particular article 26, cited above, the 
United States had appointed as its consul in Gothenburg, Sweden, Mr. Rich- 
ard S. Smith, of Philadelphia. The time when he was stationed at Gothen- 
burg was in the early part of the last century, during the time of the great 
Napoleonic wars of Europe. By the decrees of Berlin and Milano, and the 
British order in council, all ports in Europe were closed to neutral vessels 
save those of the Baltic. The United States, not beins; in the contest, had a 
great commerce with those Northern ports, and when there a]:)peared one morn- 
ing in the roadstead of Gothenburg an American vessel without a cargo, but 
with orders to call at Gothenburg and then to hurry on farther to some Rus- 
sian port in the Baltic, Mr. Smith detected in the mysterious appearance of 
this ship enough to satisfy him that war had broken out between the United 
States and Great Britain. Mr. Smith himself tells the story as follows: 

" In the month of July, iSi 2, it was the law in Sweden that every vessel arriving from Amer- 
ica should come to anchor in the quarantine harbor, fourteen miles from the city, and, being 
boarded by the master of quarantine, the necessary manifest of cargo, clearance, etc.. were ex- 
hibited, and a memorandum thereof made and immediately^ dispatched by a boat to the proper 
health officer of the city. Being anxious to be promptly advised of every arrival, I made 
arrangements with the man who navigated the boat between the station and the city that he 
should e.xhibit all the papers to me of all American ships before he took them to the Health 
Office. (There was no breach of trust in this.) It so happened that on the morning of the 23d 
of July, 1S12, between live and six o'clock, the quarantine boy brought me the papers of the 
pilot boat schooner Champlain, cleared by Minturn and Champlin, in ballast from New York 
to Eastport, Maine. It was at once clear to my mind that this vessel was dispatched with most 
important intelligence affecting the interests of this principal New York firm, that I did not hes- 
itate a moment, but procured a boat and in less than an hour, with my consular commission in 
my pocket, I was on my way to the quarantine ground. Arriving there, I called on an old offi- 
cer in charge and was allowed to go out to the vessel. I was not allowed to go on board, and 

ConttHKet/ an page JS 




OSCAR II. 

A'liig of Sweden and A^orway. gStk i u'.er of the Kingdom of Sweden. 




PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. 

2jtli Pn- si dent of the Unitrd States. 



Saves American Ships from Capture by the English in iS 12 

the old officer, therefore, passed in_v commission up to the captain of the schooner, who, 
having read it, said he recognized me as consul, but was a good deal annoyed at- being 
detained even a day, before he could visit the city and forward important letters to various cor- 
respondents of his owners. I told him I would facilitate his intentions by all the means in my 
power, and added, that as there could be no doubt the information to be thus conveyed was of a 
character highly important to all Americans in charge of vessels and property in neighboring 
ports, I thought he should communicate freely with me, whose duty it was to protect the inter- 
ests of his countrymen within my reach. He said that, being intrusted with a commission 
affecting the private interests of the house who had dispatched the vessel, he was not at liberty 
to sav more. Apprehending that he might not be willing to say more or speak out in the presence 
of another, I asked the old Swede if he would land me on the rocks in sight of the schooner and 
allow me the use of his skifT, that I might have a confidential talk with the captain. Consenting 
to this, 1 rowed out alone in the boat and told the captain of the schooner that I feared war 
had been declared against England, and if so, I ought to be informed, as there were millions of 
dollars at stake, which I could protect and secure if I were clearly advised of the fact. He 
repeated his former assertion that he had a commission to perform for his owners, and he would 
not go beyond that. I directed his attention to a fleet of several hundred vessels lying in 
Winga Roads, distant a mile from the quarantine grounds. I told him I knew over forty Amer- 
ican vessels in that fleet waiting English convoy, and of course under the guns of British cruis- 
ers. I told him the English had great facilities in receiving and forwarding all important 
information affecting their interests, and that, doubtless, the English admiral would have the 
information within a day or two. and it would be a lasting sorrow to him to know that one word 
in confidence to me might have saved millions to his countrymen, which otherwise, by his 
silence, would be captured by an enemy. At this he was much agitated, and said that he could 
not, in that view of the case, remain silent. He said war was declared by an act of Congress 
on the 17th day of June, and that on the ne.xt day Commodore Rogers had sailed to look for 
British cruisers off Halifa.x, and no doubt hostilities had commenced. 

" Having obtained this important information, with a strong fair wind, I hurried back 
to the city and hastily assembled the Americans in my office. I astonished and startled 
them by the news I had obtained. Some of them were captains of vessels lying down in 
the roads under convoy, and were crazy to get to their ships. 

"The wind, which had been so fair to bring me up to the city, was now almost a gale 
against a passage down. It was suggested that we should all set to work writing a circular 
which I prepared, and that a horse and carriage should be procured, with which two or three 
of the number should proceed to Marstrand, a seaport a few miles to windward, from which, by 
boat, the fleet could easily be reached and the circulars delivered to the American vessels, 
warning them unless they weighed their anchors and ran up the river above the Swedish 
batteries, they were liable at any moment to British capture. All parties were cautioned to keep 
strict silence in the city until these vessels were secured. Happily, the expedition to Marstrand 
and thence to the fleet w^as a success, and before the next morning the vessels, over forty in 
number, were safe under the protection of Swedish batteries, to the great surprise of the British 
officers, who wondered what had got into the Yankees that they had all gone up the river." 

In this way, and by his sagacity and energetic promptness, Mr. Smith 
saved from capttn-e, by the British warships which were lying outside, the 

iS 



John Ericson 



wliole of that American ticet. It was a great service to his country, but it 
was only made possible by and on account of the treaty then in force, which 
had been made by the Government of Sweden twenty-nine years before, at 
the invitation of the then 
reigning King Gnslaf III. 

* *■ * * 

On the occasion of the 
celebration of the 250th an- 
niversary of the first land- 
ing of the Swedes on the 
Delaware, held in Minne- 
apolis, Minn., Sept. 14, 1 888, 
the chief orator of the festi- 
\al, Mr. W. W. Thomas, 
United States Minister to 
Sweden, said: 

"When our forefathers rose 
in arms to throw off the yoke of 
Great Britain, in that long struggle 
of the revolution, that time that 
tried men's souls, let not America 
forget that next after our ally, 
France, it was the gallant King- 
dom of Sweden, that, first among 
the nations of the world, recog- 
nized our new-born republic, made 
with us a treaty of friendship, and 
welcomed us into the great sister- 
hood of nations. 

"We, of this generation, can 
never forget the incidents of the 
great American Rebellion, that 
Titanic contest that for four years raged over the continent. We can never forget our 
bright days of victory, nor our dark and gloomy days of defeat and disaster, when everything 
that was dear and sacred to us as a nation seemed trembling in the balance. Shall we ever 
forget one memorable morning wiien the rebel ram, Merrimac. steamed out of Norfolk harbor, 
and, with her prow of iron, came down upon our wooden walls of defence, lying at anchor at 
Hampton Roads ? How cruelly that monster iron-clad gored one after another of our brave 
ships to the death, while the shot from our cannon rattled off her coat of mail harmless as 
hailstones. How bravely went down the good ship Cumberland, with the stars and stripes 
still floating at her masthead, and with three hundred inunortals on board, who fired the last 




JOHN ERICSON 



19 



The' Monitor 

broadside as the waters of the ocean poured into the muzzles of their guns. Then all was 
terror and consternation. Telegrams were sent from headquarters to New York, Boston and 
Portland, to all maritime cities: 'The Merrimac has escaped. She has broken the blockade. 
She has sunk the bravest ships of our navy. We have nothing that can cope with her. Take 
care of yourselves; we cannot protect you.' 

" I recollect well how the news was received in Portland. How our citizens consulted to- 
o-ether. How it was proposed to construct rafts of long lumber, and chain them across the har- 
bor, to save, if possible, our beautiful city by the sea from the shot and shell of this rebel mon- 
ster. For a few short hours that rebel ram was ' Mistress of the Seas.' 

"Then what! A little nondescript craft comes steaming in from the ocean, 'a Yankee 
cheesebox on a raft,' it was called in derision. But she steams straight for tlie Merrimac, the 
bio' turret. 'The cheesebox' begins to revolve; the big guns are run out. and the big cannon 
balls are hurled, one after another, with crushing effect against the mailed armour of the Con- 
federate cruiser. The contest was long; the fight was hard; but at its close this rebel ruler of 
the waves, crippled, disabled and defeated, was glad to crawl out of the fight, to roam the seas 
no more. 

"This is all familiar to you as household words; but let us not forget that the inventive 
o-enius who planned and built and gave us the Monitor, that apparently insignificant means of 
defence, which in that hour, under God, was the salvation of our navy, our blockade, and our 
prestige on the seas — let us not forget, I say, that he, the inventor of the Monitor, was no Amer- 
ican born, but the Swede, John Ericson, the son of a Swedish miner, born and bred in the 
backwoods of old Sweden." 




Battle Pctwt't'ii the Monitor and Menimae 



Jenny hind 

I^'rom the grini realities of war it is a relief to turn to the gentle arts of 
the sweet singers, who have made us forget for the nonce life's burden and 
lifted us to realms of nobler aims and higher impulses. During the last cen- 
tury Sweden gave to the world two of the sweetest singers that ever charmed 
rapt audiences with divine melody, Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson. 

Jcmiv L///i/ wan born in Stockholm, October 6, 1S20. She received her 
early training in the school of singing attached to the Royal Theatre in Stock- 
holm, and made her debut in opera at that theatre in March, 183S, as Agatha 
in Weber's " Der Freischutz," and made an instant hit; afterward singing- 
Alice in " Robert le Diable," and Giulia in " La Vestale," all with brilliant 
success. In June, 1S41, she went to Paris and took lessons from Garcia for 
nine months. Meyerbeer, who happened to be in Paris at the time, heard 
her, was delighted, and predicted for her a brilliant future. She obtained a 
hearing at the opera in 1S42, but no engagement followed. Naturally hurt 
at this, she is said to have determined never to accept an engagement in 
Paris; and, whether that is true or not, it is certain that in March, 1847, she 
declined an engagement at the Academic Royale, nor did she ever appear in 
Paris again. She went to Berlin and studied German, but returned to Stock- 
holm in September, 1S44, to take part in the fetes at the crowning of King 
Oscar I. She returned to Berlin in October and obtained an engagement at 
the opera, through the influence of Meyerbeer, who had written for her the 
principal role in his " Feldlager in Schlesien," afterward remodelled as 
"L'Ftoile du Nord." She appeared first December 15 as Norma, made a 
hit in that character, and afterward sang with equal success her part in 
Meyerbeer's new opera. In the following year she sang at Hamburg, Cologne 
and Coblentz, and in Copenhagen on her return to Stockholm, enjoying 
everywhere a triumphant success. The next year, 1846, she was engaged 
in Vienna and appeared there for the first time, April iS, 1846. On May 4, 
1S47, she made her first appearance in London at Her Majesty's Theatre, 
as Alice in " Robert." Moscheles had already met her in Berlin, and wrote 
thus of her performance in "The Camp of Silesia:" 

" Jenny Lind has fairly enchanted me. She is unique in her w ay, and her song, with two 
concertante flutes, is perhaps the most incredible performance, in the way of bravura singing, 
ever accomplished. How lucky I was to find her at home! What a glorious singer she is and 
so unpretentious withal." 

Mendelssohn wrote of her : 

" In my whole life I have not seen an artistic nature so noble, so genuine, so true, as that 
of Jenny Lind. Natural gifts, study, and depth of feeling I have never seen united in the same 
degree ; and, although one of these qualities may have been more prominent in other persons, 
the combination of all three has never existed before." 



"Jenny hind 



In London slic leaped at once to tlie pinnacle of fame. "The town, sacred 
and profane, went wild about the Swedish Nightingale," says Chorley. Her 
voice, with a compass from D to D, with another note or two occasionally 
available above the high D, was a soprano of a bright, thrilling and remark- 
ably sympathetic quality. She was an unrivaled coloratura singer.and showed 

exquisite taste in her caden- 
za, which she usually in- 
vented. Her wonderfully 
developed length of breath 
enabled her to perform long 
and difficult passages with 
ease, and to fine down her 
tones to the softest pianis- 
simo, while still maintaining 
the quality unvaried. One 
.writer said about her: "What 
shall I say of Jenny Lind.? 
I can find no words adequate 
to give you an idea of the 
impression she has made. 
We have heard an artist who 
makes a conscience of her 
art." Next to the great gift 
of her wonderful voice, that 
was undoubtedly the grand 
thing about Jenny Lind, "she 
made a conscience of her 
art." In the smallest town 
she would put the same zeal, 
the same verve into her sing- 
ing that she would if she were making her debut in Her Majesty's Theatre 
in London. She never concerned herself about what her critics, friends 
or enemies, would say about her; she put her whole soul into her art, 
and gave the best that was in her, in her best and most powerful manner, to 
her audiences, whether made up of lords and princes or of people from the 
humbler walks of life. 

In 1S50-52 she visited America under the management of Mr. Barnum. 
She was married to Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, a German pianist from Hamburg, 




EN NY LIND 



Christiih' Ni/ssofi 



in Boston, on February 5, 1S52, and the marriage turned out to be a happy 
one. Long before her marriage she iiad left the operatic stage and betaken 
herself to the concert hall. "How she sang there," says Chorley, "many of 
the present generation will still remember — the wild, queer Northern tunes 
brought from her native land — her careful expression of Mozart's great airs, 
her mastery over such a piece 
of execution as the Bird Song 
in Haydn's 'Creation,' and 
lastly the grandeur of in- 
spiration with which the 
'Sanctus' of angels in Men- 
delssohn's 'Elijah' was led 
by her. These are the tri- 
umphs which will stamp her 
name forever as one of the 
brightest in the golden book 
of singers." Her private life 
was as admirable as her pub- 
lic repute; her generosity 
was unbounded; her mod- 
esty and nobility of soul have 
been the theme of enthusias- 
tic eulogy. She died at her 
villa, Wynds Point, Malvern 
Wells, England, November 
2, 1887. A marble medal- 
lion of her head was put up 
in the poet's corner in West- 
minster Abbey, and unveiled 
on April 20, 1S94. 
* * * * 
Christine Nilsson was born August 20, 1S43, '•'' the parish of Wederslof, 
near Wexib, Sweden, where her father was a small farmer on the estate of Count 
Hamilton. Her first teachers were the Baroness Lenheusen and Frans Ber- 
wald in Stockholm. She was afterward taken to Paris by the Baroness and 
studied singing under M. Wartel. She made her debut at the Theatre Lyr- 
ique, October 27, 1864, as Violetta in "La Traviata." She made an instant 
success and remained at the Lyrique nearly three years, after which she came 




CHRISTINE NILSSON 

Comtt'ssc Miranda . 



Christine Ni/sson 

to London and made her first appearance at Her Majesty's Theatre, as Vio- 
letta, on June 8, 1S67, making a great hit, subsequently singing Lady Henri- 
etta and Elvira, but making her greatest success as Marguerite in "Faust." 
The same season she sang at the Crystal Palace, and at the Birmingham fes- 
tival in oratorio, for which she was instructed by Mr. Turle, the organist of 
Westminster Abbey. On October 23, she took farewell of the Theatre Lyr- 
ique by creating the principal part in "Les Bluets" of Jules Cohen. She was 
then engaged by the Academic de Musique for the part of Ophelia in 
Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet," in which she appeared on its first production, 
March 9, 1S6S, with very great success. 

In 1 868 Christine Nilsson reappeared in Italian opera at Drury Lane 
Theatre, London, with the same eclat as before, and added to her reportoire 
the roles of Lucia and Cherubino. In the autumn she sang in Baden-Baden, 
appearing for the first time as Mignon, and in the winter returned to the 
Academie in Paris. In 1869 she sang Ophelia in the production of "Hamlet" 
in Covent Garden, and at Exeter Hall in "The Messiah," "Creation," "Hymn 
of Praise," etc., and returned to Paris for the winter. 

From the autumn of 1870 to the spring of 1872, Christine Nilsson toured 
in the United States, singing in opera and concert under the management of 
M. Strakosch. She returned to Drury Lane in London, in the summer of 
1872, and on July 27 was married to M. Auguste Rozaud in Westminster 
Abbey. From 1S72 to 1877 Madame Nilsson sang every season in Italian 
opera at Drury Lane and Her Majesty's, creating Edith in Balfe's"Talismano," 
and Elsa in the production of " Lohengrin" at Drury Lane in 1875. During 
the winter and spring of these years she sang at the opera of St. Petersburg, 
Moscow and Vienna. In 1873-74 she paid a second visit to America, being 
everywhere received with unbounded enthusiasm. She made her third visit 
to America in 1884. Her first husband having died in 1882, she married 
Count Casa di Miranda, a Spanish nobleman, in 1887. Since her retirement 
from professional singing she has made Paris her home, and from there 
makes annual visits to her native land of Sweden where she has bought 
farms and presented to the members of her numerous family, making them all 
happy and prosperous. 

The introduction of the above sketches of the two great singers may not 
be exactly germane to the subject of this brochure, but so many of our 
younger generation have heard the names of these famous singers without 
knowing the particulars of their history (I have heard young people contend 
that Jenny Lind was born in England and was an English woman), that I 
think it will be a pleasure to a great many to learn who Jenny Lind and 
Christine Nilsson were, what they did, and where they came from. 



Swedish Imniigrdnts Prosper in United States 

The- great adaptability of the Swedes to the circumstances and customs 
of a new country is acknowledged on all sides. Whenever and wherever they 
have transplanted themselves, whether in England in the eighth and ninth 
centuries, in Normandy in the tenth, in Cicily in the eleventh, or in America 
in the seventeenth and 
nineteenth, the same pro- 
gress of transformation 
has taken place. No other 
people in all history have 
such a record. In the 
United States they have 
eagerly learned English. 
Their passion for the pos- 
session of land and for 
the independence that 
goes with it has character- 
ized them from the earliest 
times, and it is that which 
has made them so \'alu- 
able as citizens of the great 
Northwest, in which they 
have settled so largely. 

Of course they are not 
all land owners. Thou- 
sands of them have made a 
record as able and skilled 
mechanics in our manu- 
facturing establishments, 
and in e\"ery city and town 
in the Northwest we find 
them engaged in com- 
mercial enterprises and 
the professions with 
marked success, but the 
great majority are farmers. 

It is an old saying 
that the apple falls not far 
from the tree. For more 




HANS ANDERSON 

The- sole- snri-h'or of the fii^'hting creio of the Monitor, in its mcmor- 
Kihlc Ihitile 'iK'ith the Menimac. Born in Sivedcn^ ^■S^J-, C'inie to America 
in iS^y, sailed I }i Ameriean merchant ships until iS^4. ivhen he joined 
the navy. Served on board the frigates Falmouth and Congress until he 
joined the volunteer cri70 of the A/onitor just i>efore Christmas, iS6r. lie 
was one of the gunners in the revolving toisjer {the cheesehox) of the Moni- 
tor^ that loaded and fired the i^uns that disabled the iMerrimae. He is 
yet living, a hale and hearty old 7-eteran pensioner of the United States, 
in his home in Brooklyn^ X. )*. 



25 



Statistics of Siveiiish luunigration 



tlian forty generations tlie Swedes have behind them the Hves of their ances- 
tors saturated with hard work, thrift and economy, and an independence that 
never became the slave of priest, landlord or king. Is it any wonder then 
when such a race is transplanted into a richer soil and a more genial climate 

that they flourish and 
make for the good of the 
state in which the)' have 
taken up the white man's 
burden ? 

An American author, 
Pfendrick C. Babcock, 
justly remarks: "The 
hundreds of thousands of 
immigrants from Sweden 
that have settled in the 
West and brought pros- 
perity to that country, 
are no longer pilgrims 
and strangers. They are 
not simply in the better 
country, they are of it, 
and of its people. It is 
to the immigrants of this 
class and especially those 
from Sweden, Norway 
and Denmark, that the 
Northwest is largely in- 
debted for its marvelous 
development." 

A glance at the statis- 
tics of Swedish immigra- 
tion into the United 
States during the nine- 
teenth century sliows that, from 185 i to 186S, both inclusive, 56,107 persons 
arrived from Sweden; from 1869 to 1880, inclusive, 153,589 arrived; from 
1S81 to 1890, inclusive 391,733 arrived; from 1891 to 1899, inclusive, 
212,028 arrived; making a total for the forty-nine years covered by these 
statistics of 813,457; adding to these 10,000 who arrived between 1820 




MR. A. (}Rir 

S'lOeSish- Norwegian Mniisler in IVailiiiigtoii. 



To the United States During the igth Century 



and 1.S50, we liave a grand total of S23,457 Swedish immigrants settled in tlie 
United States during the last century. 

Political economists have calculated that each of these immigrants is 
worth $875 to the country and that they bring witli them on an average $50 
each, which increases their \'alue 
to $950. This is admitted to be 
a low estimate, but even thus, 
it shows an addition to the 
wealth of the United States of 

$782,284,150, and a correspond- ^^ 

ing loss to Sweden. 

This is the pecuniary sacri- ,< 

fice that the Swedish nation has 
made to the United States dur- 
ing the last century. Sweden in 
return has gained something by 
money remittances from her 
former sons and daughters to 
their relatives in Sweden, but 
this does not amount to one- 
twentieth part of the value she 
has lost. 

As individuals the Swedes 
who have settled in the United 
States have prospered and gained 
immensely by the change; as a 
nation Sweden has made a sacri- 
fice that can never be repaid. 

The burden of propagating 
the Christian religion and civiliz- 
ing the globe is laid upon the 
white race. The Suedes are an 
integral part of that race, and 
history proves that in comparison to their number they have perforjned a 
large share of the work of propagating and defending the gospel light of 
Christianity. In their new home on this continent they prove themselves 
worthy heirs of noble sires by keeping their churches, schools and benevolent 
institutions, evidences of their religious life and activities, well to the front. 




MR. \V. W. THOMAS 



Support Christianity and Good Government 




As a testimony to their moral worth, and as propagators of Cliristianity, 
let it be recorded to their credit tliat they have built and support over 1,400 
churches in the United States; that they maintain over i.ooo ministers 
of the gospel: own and maintain several hospitals, a number of orphanages, 

colleges and seats of 
learninor. 

In all relations of life, 
political, social and relig- 
ious, they associate them- 
selves with the best ele- 
ments of native Ameri- 
cans. Are law abiding, 
peaceful and productive. 
Towns, counties and 
states in which they are 
a considerable part of the 
population are uniformly 
prosperous. Industrial 
establishments, schools 
and churches are very 
much more in evidence in 
such communities than 
police magistrates and 
jails. In the observance 
and obligations of Ameri- 
can citizenship they aim 
at the best type and strive 
to attain the highest 
standard that education, 
faith and loyalty can pro- 
duce. Their particular 
and great value to the 



VICE CONSUL JOHN R. LINDGREN 

Official Representative of the Swedisli Gmwrnmeitt in Chieiigo, and 
Treasurer of the Swedish Famine Fund. 



nation is aptly expressed 
in Swift's famous epigram: "Whoever makes two ears of corn, or two blades 
of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before deserves 
better of mankind and does more essential service to his country than 
the whole race of politicians put together." This is what the Swedish- 
American farmer has done. All honor to his progressive spirit. 



The truly great are those who make least noise. 
And walk with humble looks upon the earth ; 
They nor affect a swelling part nor speak 
Big words that make their hearers stand aside 
In silent awe and clear an ample space, 
Like Lilliputians before some Gulliver. 
Greatness consists not in such empty gauds 
As dazzle and attract the public eye; 
It rests not on the breath of multitudes. 
For rightly hath the poet said — "The world 

knows nothing of its greatest men." There went 
A great man once about the daily paths 
Of life, and few there were that recognized 
The greatness that in goojitess dwelt ; and still 
Small is the numljer unto whom this truth 
Is made apparent. Kgune. 



Whatever man possesses God hath lent. 

And to his audit liable is, ever. 
To reckon how, and when and where he spent ; 

As faithful steward and a true receiver. 
Little thy debt when little is thy store — 
When much thou hast, thv debt is so much more. 



And when thy brother needs thy open hand. 

Don't shut it — nay, be glad and always willing 

To meet his wants, and let him understand 

'Tis duty's pleasure brings to him your shilling. 

The contradiction's true when at your grave, 

The on/y tfihig you have is 7ohat vott gave. 

Fletcher. 



Be kind to each other ! 

The night's coming on. 
When friend and when brother 

Perchance may be gone. 
Then, midst our dejection, 

How sweet to have earned 
The blest recollection 

Of kindness returned. A.non. 



Mercy is the highest reach of wit, 

A safety unto them that practice it. 

Born out of God, and unto human eyes, 

Like Ciod, not seen, 'till worldly passion dies. 

<J, I^ord, thy mercies fail me never — 

Where once Thou lovest. Thou lovest forever. 

Brooke. 




DURING'S SWEDISH LADIES QUINTETTE 

The latest arrivals from Sweden who are delii^htiiig 
thousands this season luith their beautiful singinf^ 



In the foregoing brochure I aim particularly to reach the 
growing generation of my countrymen, born in America. 
There is among some of them a tendency to belittle, and in cer- 
tain cases even to despise, their Swedish ancestry and anything 
that reminds them of Sweden. This weakness, not to say folly, 
is regrettable and due partly to ignorance of the history of the 
race from which they sprung, partly to a false pride in being 
born Americans, which is not due to their own merit, but to 
that of their parents, who have sacrificed and suffered and 
labored hard to acquire American citizenship. It is a great 
advantage to any person to be born of good stock, and the char- 
acteristics possessed by our nationality, hammered into it by 
more than twenty centuries of strife with a soil, climate and 
surroundings requiring courage, manliness and strength to se- 
cure a living, are not changed nor lost by a sudden transplanting 
from one country to another. The sturdy independence, the 
strength of arm, of will, and of purpose, is the invaluable heritage 
that has been founded and developed in Sweden, by the physi- 
cal, religious and political conditions of that country, and, bred 
in the bone, descends from father to son through untold genera- 
tions. This is the power of our race which has subdued the 
woodlands and the prairies and made them blossom as the rose; 
which in every walk of life has carried our people to compe- 
tency and success. To be born of a nation having a history 
like ours, and to be heir to the culture of a race as enlightened 
and progressive as the Swedish, is a boon to any individual for 
which he should be thankful to the Giver of all good things, and 
not affect to minimize or despise the splendid heritage thrust 
upon him. 

By respecting ourselves and our common origin, we gain 
the respect of our neighbors, whoever they may be. By culti- 
vating the good in our inheritance and reaching out for the best 
that education, faith and loyalty enable us to possess, we fit 
ourselves worthy citizens of a democracy where individual rec- 
titude is the basis for the stability of the state. 

L. P. N. 



31 



APR 10 1903 



mi 

011 641 '♦oo 



■■tfU.1. 



